Stop-DWI staffer says sheriff, supervisor OK'd use of fake addresses

Published 9:33 pm, Wednesday, April 25, 2012

ALBANY — A judge has dismissed a court claim filed by a former Albany County Stop-DWI official who challenged the county's residency requirement after she was fired last year in the wake of allegations she used a series of fake addresses to qualify for employment.

Erin M. Loffredo, a former Stop-DWI victims' coordinator, filed a court claim last year alleging former Sheriff James L. Campbell and her then-supervisor, Leonard J. Crouch, had directed her to use fake addresses to meet the county's residency requirement for employees.

Loffredo, 52, a longtime resident of Averill Park, Rensselaer County, brought the claim in state Supreme Court seeking reinstatement to the $52,865-a-year job, and also back pay. Her argument, in part, is that the sheriff's office is independent of the County Legislature, which set the residency requirement for employees through a resolution adopted in 1995.

"(As) an employee of the county, compliance with the residency requirement was a continuing obligation and was, in no way, eliminated by the fact that she worked within the sheriff's department," Devine wrote in an order dismissing the claim. "Further, petitioner's claim that her supervisor and the former sheriff effected a 'waiver' of the residency requirement on her behalf contradicts her statements indicating that she was directed to falsify her employment documentation with an Albany County address."

Loffredo said her use of three fake addresses since 2004 "was known to both Crouch and then-Albany County Sheriff James Campbell," according to her claim.

Loffredo alleged Crouch had a direct role in facilitating her use of the fake addresses. She also claimed Campbell had instructed her a year ago to change her address to the location of her husband's business in Colonie after the Times Union requested copies of her employment records.

Public records show that when Loffredo was appointed to her job in October 2004 she listed an address for Beltrone Living Center, a senior housing complex off Wolf Road in Colonie.

In 2007, Loffredo's petition states, Crouch allegedly changed her address in county employment records to an address in Colonie that was the residence of Crouch's mother-in-law. The address change was made less than three weeks before Loffredo received a permanent civil service appointment for her job.

Last April, after the Times Union filed a formal request seeking copies of Loffredo's employment records, she alleged Campbell directed her to change her address again.

That month, Loffredo's employee records were altered to reflect she lived on Kraft Avenue in Colonie, which is the location of a business operated by her husband, Richard.

Crouch, a former Albany police commander, notarized Loffredo's employment application that contained the address for Beltrone Living Center.

Sheriff's investigators discovered during an internal investigation last summer that Loffredo's personnel file contained an altered copy of her New York state driver's license listing an address for the senior housing complex. Loffredo denied altering the license.

The sheriff's department conducted an investigation last year after the Times Union published stories about the residency discrepancies.

Sheriff's officials referred their findings to the Albany County district attorney's office but no action was taken.

Loffredo's attorney, Kevin A. Luibrand, had argued the county's residency rule could not usurp the sheriff's power to make hiring decisions regardless of where a person lives. Luibrand declined comment.

Crouch was fired from his job last July as the department investigated whether he assisted Loffredo in filing false addresses.

Another sheriff's employee, John Curry, a retired state trooper who was the department's critical incident coordinator since 2003, resigned in August after the Times Union reported Curry had listed a Latham veterinarian's office as his residence in county payroll records and on a job application. Curry has owned a home in Rensselaer County, and lived there, for more than 30 years.

Campbell retired last June, shortly after contentious meetings with Loffredo and Crouch about Loffredo's residency situation.

County employees, including part-time workers, are subject to the residency rule unless they receive a waiver.

The job applications on file for Loffredo and Curry contain a warning above the signature line that false statements are a misdemeanor offense and grounds for termination.

Curry did not sign his application, even though it's required, officials said.